Two Sides to Every (Legal) Story
by blahblah11
Summary: After Victoria and David run away, Conrad seeks files an affidavit seeking custody of Daniel. Victoria responds.
1. Chapter 1

I know this is an odd thing for a fanfiction, but i'm a law student doing a placement in a Family Law firm and the other day I was drafting an affidavit on behalf of a man whose wife who had run away with all her husbands money and their children. It reminded me of Revenge and I accidentally started drafting one in my head for the scenario where Victoria and David had actually run away with the children and the money.

I thought, what the hell, I got told to practise them anyway. The formatting turned out annoying but w/e. Assume the bombing hasn't happened yet.

* * *

I CONRAD EDWARD GRAYSON, of GRAYSON MANOR, SOUTHHAMPTON, Investor, make an oath and say:

My name is CONRAD EDWARD GRAYSON I am the applicant father in these proceedings. I was born on 8 February 1959 and am currently 34 years of age.

**HISTORY OF THE RELATIONSHIP**

1\. The respondent Mother in VICTORIA GRAYSON, born 18 August 1956. She is currently 37 years of age.

2\. There is one child of the marriage. DANIEL GRAYSON, born 4 March 1988. He is currently 5 years of age. ("the child")

3\. My relationship with the Mother commenced in late 1985. The Mother worked as an art dealer in New York City and I was one of her customers. I bought a few pieces from her and eventually we started a relationship.

4\. In late 1986 Victoria told me she was pregnant. We thereafter were married in December 1986.

5\. She miscarried in January 1987. I now believe she was not pregnant and fabricated her pregnancy to induce me into marriage. She knew I was wealthy.

6\. In early 1987 we began development on bought a large block of land in South Hampton. We built the house, Grayson Manor there. ("the matrimonial home")

7\. Although we owned several properties in New York City, the Mother always preferred to live at the matrimonial home. She came to the city as little as possible. I worked in the city and as such, we were often apart.

8\. During the marriage, I worked full time as head of a hedge fund, GRAYSON GLOBAL. The Mother did not work but managed charities and hosted events in their name. The Mother therefore owes her entire privileged lifestyle to my hard work.

9\. In July 1991, I hired a man DAVID CLARKE to work at my company, Grayson Global, as a hedge fund investor.

10\. In August 1991 bought the house next door to us in South Hampton.

11\. David Clarke attended a New Years Eve party at my home in the Hamptons in New Years Eve 1991.

12\. I introduced him to the Mother.

13\. I now believe they started a sexual relationship soon after this, though I was not aware at the time.

14\. By the end of 1991, our company was experiencing record profits. I therefore organized an executive retreat to Hawaii in May 1992. All of the staff from my New York City office attended, including David Clarke. The Mother also attended.

15\. On this trip, the Mother and David Clarke spent, what seemed to me, to be a significant amount of time together. At the time I did not worry about it because to my knowledge they had not met since the New Years Eve party. It was the first time, however, that I noticed they had what I thought at the time to be a friendship.

16\. Throughout 1992, I noticed that David Clarke was distant with me at work. I assumed it was just his personality.

17\. The Mother was also distant with me. In May 1992, the Mother moved her things into a spare bedroom. I was upset and felt like our marriage was deteriorating.

18\. I knew the Mother to be subject to mood swings and hoped that with time things would get better if I put effort into the relationship.

19\. I was affectionate and tried my best to be a loving husband.

20\. Despite this things between us continued to be strained for about a year and at the end of 1992 I began to wonder if she was seeing someone else.

21\. I first became suspect of a relationship between the Mother and David Clarke specifically in May 1993. He was living next door and we saw a lot of him. I noticed that even in my presence, he and the Mother seemed close.

22\. On July 12 1993 my head of security informed me that the Mother had left David's house early one morning. I was very angry but did not say anything because I needed to think about what I wanted to do. I did not necessarily want to divorce her because I still loved her and we had to think about our son.

23\. It was important to both of us to present to others as though things between us were still functional. For her part, the Mother wanted to maintain her social status. For my part, our family has always been in the public eye and I believed a marriage breakdown would be bad publicity. In any case, I was still in love with her and I did not believe her relationship with David was serious. I thought our marriage could be salvaged eventually but I needed time to decide whether I was willing to forgive her. I wanted to observe her behaviour now I knew she was being unfaithful. As such I did not confront her and we continued a strained relationship for a month. We would hardly speak, except to exchange words about the child or about events that we were holding.

24\. In mid August 1993, the Mother began to stay at David Clarke's house so often that for all intents and purposes, she ceased living at the matrimonial home.

25\. This was a step too far for me. On or around August 20, I confronted the Mother about her affair and she did not deny it. We fought and both said a number of hurtful things. She told me she was more in love with David than she had ever been with me and that he would make a better Father than I would.

26\. I moved back to New York City the next day, August, 21, intending to think about what to do. I did not want to lose my wife for reasons mentioned in paragraph 23.

27\. I left the child in her care.

28\. We did not speak for the next 10 days, though I phoned and talked to the child several times.

29\. On September 3 1993, I phoned the matrimonial home to speak to the child but received no answer. I tried again four times.

30\. The next day, September 4, I asked my head of security to go up there and see what was going on. When he arrived he phoned and told me that the Mother and child were not there.

31\. David Clarke had also been absent from work since 1 September 1993. He had called in sick on August 31.

32\. I went up there myself the next night. I looked everywhere for the Mother and child, and on the Mother's dressing table found a handwritten note informing me that she had taken the child and 'gone to start a new life,' with David. It did not inform me where they had gone and specifically told me not to contact them. See Appendix A for a true copy of this letter.

33\. The letter also said that the child Daniel would benefit from not being in contact with me. I was hurt and furious.

34\. The Mother takes joy in claiming that she is very dependent on the child and she claimd tp be a devoted and doting mother. However, I believe these claims are designed to suit her ago and not matched in truth. Since the time the child was born the Mother relied exclusively on nannies for the necessary duties of Motherhood such as diaper changing and bathing. Her time with the child was structured around her own needs. As such, her relationship with the child is superficial at best.

35\. For example, she would not personally take him to watch the fireworks on Memorial day at Hampton beach because it conflicted with her own charity dinner. She sat with him while he ate and then a nanny took him down to the fireworks.

36\. From nearly as soon as the child l was born, she was possessive and controlling in my relations with him. She was paranoid about me spending time alone with him and would often dissuade him from going anywhere with me.

37\. Despite this, I tried my hardest to build a close relationship with the child. I took him fishing and golfing and have tried to integrate him into my life as much as possible. I try to give him a sense of his own heritage and a sense of family pride. I believe the Mother does all she can to undermine this.

38\. Despite the Mother's egotistic attitude to Motherhood, the child does have great affection for her and my attempts and building a relationship have not yet had time to be properly fostered because the child is so young.

39\. I am concerned that I will lose all the bond I have with the child if I do not contact him soon and that it is the best interests of the child to have a relationship with both parents.

40\. On the same day, September 4 1993, I hired private investigators to find the Mother and David Clarke.

41\. On 5 September 1993 I was going through bank details to see if I could glean any idea of the Mother's current whereabouts. I noticed that a withdrawal of $5 million was made on August 19. I submit that the Mother made this withdrawal to fund her 'new life.' The Mother has always been free to use this account for whatever she wishes. However, using it to leave me and steal my son is inappropriate and insulting

**OTHER CONCERNS**

42\. The Mother has an extremely bad temper, and can become physically violent when she is enraged. Frequently she has hit me across the face during arguments.

43\. The Mother has uprooted the child from his home and paternal family with no warning.

44\. The child has a sensitive nature and is no doubt feeling unsettled. I predict that the Mother will become impatient with him feeling this way and I worry about his physical safety in this event.

45\. It is in the best interests of the child to have a meaningful and significant relationship with both of its parents. This cannot occur when I am not in his life. David Clarke is not his Father and cannot provide the meaningful and significant contact the child requires.

46\. The child is old enough to wonder why I am no longer in his life but not old enough to understand what his Mother has done. It would be extremely emotionally disturbing for him.

47\. The Mother's willingness to do such a thing is indicative of her selfishness and a blatant display of her tendency to put her own needs above the child's. A child should be the first priority in any parents life.

48\. I believe the Mother's assertions that the child would be better off not seeing me (contained in the letter marked appendix A) are merely an attempt to justify her actions to herself. It speaks to her delusions and self altering reality in this matter.

49\. The Mother has a history of such erratic behaviour. I believe she sees people in 'black and white' terms. She has what I perceive to be irrational hate for many people. Frequently during the marriage she made ludicrous accusations about other people that were completely untrue though it served her interests to believe them. For example, in August 1989 she intimidated a colleague of mine into quitting her job by threatening to 'destroy her whole family.' When I found out and asked her the reason, she replied that she 'didn't like the way I looked at her.'

50\. For reasons listed above I believe she literally cannot put the child's needs above her own. I believe that due to this the child would be better off in my care.

**ORDERS**

49\. I respectfully seek an order to the effect that when the Mother is located the child is returned to my care.

50\. I respectfully seek an order that she return the sum of 5 million dollars that she took out of our joint debit account.


	2. Chapter 2

Few lil sneaky lies in there on Victoria's part, but you know she would do it

* * *

1\. My name is VICTORIA GRAYSON am the respondent Mother in these proceedings.

The applicant father and husband is CONRAD GRAYSON. I refer to the applicant father's affidavit of 10 September 1993.

I, VICTORIA GRAYSON of SOUTH HAMPTON make an oath and say:

**Response**

1\. I agree with paragraphs 1-5. In relation to paragraph 6 I deny the assertion that I fabricated a pregnancy.

2\. I say that the miscarriage I endured in January 1987 was traumatising for me.

3\. I refer to paragraphs 7 and 8 and I agree that I preferred to stay at the matrimonial home in South Hampton. I do not enjoy the busy city as much as the quiet beach. However, I deny that I spent 'as little time as possible,' in New York City, where the husband worked. I was there at least every weekend during the winter months and most week days too. I did sometimes stay in South Hampton during the week if I needed to relax and there were no social events for me to attend. I deny that it meant we were 'often apart.' On the times I was in the city the husband was working or travelling and we would have been apart anyway.

4\. The husband travelled interstate at least once a month, often more, for the duration of the marriage. This is what contributed to our often being separated.

5\. The husband was sleeping with multiple other women for the duration of the marriage.

6\. I refer to paragraph 6 and agree that I did not work in the sense that I earned money. However, I made intangible contributions to the family home and to the image of the company with the charities I managed. They were all branded with Grayson Global and they contributed substantially to the image of the company as one with global outlook.

7\. I also organized events and luncheons in the name of the company which proved to be extremely lucrative in the sense that the Father brokered deals over them. As such I deny that he was the only one who made tangible contributions to the marriage and I say that although I did not work at the office I still put substantial time and effort into Grayson Global.

husband brokered many business deals worth millions of dollars at these events. They were specifically designed to facilitate business interaction between the husband and other parties.

9\. As such my contributions to Grayson Global have been substantial.

10\. I refer to paragraphs 10-13 and I agree that I met DAVID CLARKE on New Years Eve 1991. I deny that our relationship started in early 1992.

**Separation Under One Roof**

11\. I refer to paragraph 18 and agree that I moved my things into a spare bedroom in May 1992. I did so because things between us had become generally distant. I put it down to the husband's busy work schedule and the fact that he was generally disinterested in me.

12\. Additionally he would come home late and leave early and we had separate schedules. It was more practical for us to have separate bedrooms.

13\. I say that separation under one roof occurred in or around December 1992. The husband and I were living separate lives. We slept in separate bedrooms and conversed hardly at all. Though we still maintained a united relationship to the public, we were separated for the purposes of a private marriage.

14\. The only times we were together was at Grayson Global corporate events, or events held in Grayson name. As sworn above, I invested much of my time in the company and felt some responsibility towards it. I felt like a part of the company and felt neglectful not attending events or functions with the husband, though I felt no affinity towards him when we attended together.

15\. In private, however, we conducted no family activities. together. We spent time with the child separately.

16\. In December 1992 the husband began a relationship with a woman in his office. He did not keep it a secret from me. I believed the marriage was over.

17\. My relationship with David Clarke began in January 1993, after separation under one roof had already occurred. We had been on good terms for over a year and I was in love with him.

18\. I believed pursing a relationship with David was justified given the husband's extramarital relationship with and the fact that I considered us separated. I loved David.

19\. When I began my relationship with David Clarke, I immediately began thinking about how to conduct my exit from the marriage and from the Grayson name. I felt I needed to be careful about it because I believed the husband would not take kindly to it.

20\. I refer to paragraph 24 of the husband's affidavit and deny I was worried about my social status. However, I did believe the husband would want to keep me by his side for publicity reasons, as he states. I believed the husband wanted to keep me as a wife in the legal sense and in the public eye.

21\. Grayson Global relies heavily on its image and reputation for business. It has been a family company since its inception and as owners of the company, the husband and I were both heavily representative of this image.

22\. In leaving the marriage I did not want to damage the image of the company which, given (as referred to above) that I had made substantial contributions to, it was important to me even though I would not be part of the family image once I had left.

23\. I agree that I admitted to my relationship on August 20 when the husband confronted me about it and that I told him David would be a better father.

24\. The statement was said in the context of me telling the husbandI believed he had not been spending enough time with the child Daniel. I agree both the husband and I said hurtful things and I admit that the argument escalated into personal insults. That statement about David was one such insult.

25\. During this argument, the husband threatened me and told me if I left him for David. I would not see the child ever again. I believed the husband to be sincere in this threat. I was scared.

26\. He told me 'you will suffer every day of your life if you do this.'

27\. The husband has significant security and intelligence connections and has the means to procure such a threat.

28\. The husband did leave for New York City the next day and left the child with me: however, there was extensive security around me and the child. We were followed wherever we went. I believe it was to ensure I did not leave.

29\. I sincerely believed myself to be threatened. David and I had spoken before about moving to Montana where his aunt lived. I managed to communicate with him via telephone to organize us going away together.

**Motivations in Removing the Child**

30\. I am an attentive, doting Mother and I love the child more than anything. I would never do anything that is not in his best interests.

31\. I have been the primary carer of the child since his birth and the child is attached to me. I believed the Father would follow through on his threat that I would never see the child again and my actions in taking the child were done under great stress of this assertion.

32\. I never intended to keep the child from the father's care permanently: rather, I needed to get away somewhere while the whole situation 'blew over.' I sincerely believed if I left openly the father would follow through on his threat to deny me access to the child.

33\. The child would significantly suffer without me. He is still young and his primary attachment is to me.

34\. The Father works full time and I did not believe the child would receive adequate supervision in his care. I do not like to leave the child in the care of staff.

35\. I vehemently deny the assertion in paragraph 34 that my interest in motherhood is merely superficial. It is true that we had nannies, however, the child is not in day care and my time spent away with him is the same as most Mothers and is needed for me to perform necessary duties.

36\. I deny that the example given in paragraph 25 reflects a detached attitude to parenting. I spent many special days and special occasions with the child personally.

37\. I have been with the child for his whole birthday, Christmas and Thanksgiving every single year since his birth. The Father has worked or been otherwise absent for much of them.

38\. I admit I am very protective of the child, and as stated above, I believed many of the activities the Father would take the child on to be inappropriate given his young age.

39\. I deny that I undermine the Father's attempts at bonding with the child. I say that such attempts have been on the Father's terms only. For example, the Father has never visited the child's school, yet the child has been into the Father's office many times.

**Other matters**

40\. I admit that I withdrew $5 million from the joint bank account on 1 September 1993 and I say that I am entitled to it given my intangible contributions to the marriage and to the company Grayson Global as stated above.

41\. The husband is extremely angry about my exit from the marriage. I believe does not have the child's best interests at heart and his primary concern in this matter is to inflict emotional pain onto me. He knows that denying me spending any time with the child would do just that.

42\. The husband has significant means to procure an exit from the country or to hide the child

Orders

43\. I request that the child remain living with me and that the Father spend time with the child on a supervised basis only given his significant connections and intention to hurt me and remove the child from me permanently.


End file.
